Have been posting here for a couple of weeks now, and since I spent some time cleaning up the shop, I thought I would take some pictures. These days I mostly turn as I have young children and time is limited, but I also like to do case work. We just finished off the basement, and the last pic is a cherry build-in I completed last spring.

The shop is roughly a 12'x18' room in the basement with a small 4'x8' wing off the side for wood storage and the air compressor. I expoxied the floor, and added a sub-panel dedicated to the shop. As with most shops, it's a bit tight, but not bad considering I tend to by just larger than average tools (cabinet saw, 16" bandsaw, 8" jointer, etc.)

Some day I"ll have the funds for a full-sized lathe, and will need to refigure the whole room again..

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Brendan McAreavy

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Re: While the Shop was clean...Reply #1 - Oct 20th, 2010 at 2:12pm

That shop is a credit to you and is going to make a lot of us jealous. I love the closed storage because everything in my place is covered in dust. The Cherry unit is lovely and works very well. Make the most of that little Shop Fairy before she catches on.

The cabinets are a lucky story. My office was renovating the outdated kitchen and supply room. The cabinets were about meet their doom with a sledge by the contractor when I happened to go for a cup of coffee. 30 minutes later I had a Uhaul truck outside and my free prize was coming down in the service elevator. I used about half the cabinets, and the rest went to my father-in-law's shop.

The most ironic part was, I painted the shop blue/white a year before getting the cabinets, and the colors are exactly the same... spooky coincidence, or I was thinking about the office the day I bought the paint!

Great-looking shop, Grant. smiley=thumbsup.gif The house we're in now had enclosed cabinets similar to yours (not nearly as nice, though), and I sure like having doors and drawers instead of open shelves. I get enough dust as it is...don't need any more places for it to collect.

And that "unpaid" help? I suspect you've only just begun paying, my friend. (She looks like she's worth every cent, though.)

While it certainly doesn't feel like a palace when you're trying to work in the shop, I appreciate the sentiment. It's amazing - no matter how much space we have, it's never quite enough to feed our addition....

The top is two layers of 3/4" ply glued together, with hardwood edging. It rests on a frame of 2x6 stretchers spaced apart by 2x4s. The top is secured to the stand with 4 threaded rods/washers/bolts down the centerline of the top and are secured through the 2x4s. This keeps the bolts out of the way when you bolt the lathe to the top. Just be sure not to locate a bolt directly under the motor as its position changes with each belt location (don't ask me how I know this).

The frame is 2x6 stretchers with 2x4 legs splayed out at ~15 degrees for stability. Plywood on the sides and back add rigidity. There is also a plywood bottom behind the doors where I keep two MDF boxes of sand (~250lbs, and an unbalanced blank will still make it move!). Theres also some room in there for odds and ends like chucks, tool rests, gloves, etc.

I used PVC pipes set through a piece of MDF on the back side to store chisels.

I probably had $75USD in materials, and and weekend of construction time invested.

Good luck. There are a few threads on the site regarding lathe stands -a search should turm them up!

-Grant

If I had it to do over, I would probably have made a bit more clearance under the stand - just to make sweeping a bit easier.